36 Facts About Maurice Sendak

Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American author and illustrator of children's books.

Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrants Sadie and Philip Maurice Sendak, a dressmaker.

Maurice Sendak said that his childhood was a "terrible situation" due to the death of members of his extended family during the Holocaust which introduced him at a young age to the concept of mortality.

Maurice Sendak's illustrations were first published in 1947 in a textbook titled Atomics for the Millions by Maxwell Leigh Eidinoff.

Maurice Sendak spent much of the 1950s illustrating children's books written by others before beginning to write his own stories.

The Maurice Sendak Foundation credited editor Ursula Nordstrom and authors Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson as people who mentored Sendak.

Maurice Sendak began his children's book career as an illustrator.

Maurice Sendak's work appears in eight books by Ruth Krauss including A Hole is to Dig, published in 1952, which brought wide attention to his artwork.

Maurice Sendak illustrated the five original books in the Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik which were published between 1957 and 1968.

Maurice Sendak initially considered the title "Where the Wild Horses Are" but then decided against it.

Maurice Sendak didn't care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything.

Maurice Sendak's sister is kidnapped by goblins and Ida must go off on a magical adventure to rescue her.

Maurice Sendak was an early member of the National Board of Advisors of the Children's Television Workshop during the development stages of the Sesame Street television series.

Maurice Sendak later adapted Seven Monsters into the book Seven Little Monsters, which itself would be adapted into an animated television series.

Maurice Sendak produced an animated television production based on his work titled Really Rosie, featuring the voice of Carole King, which was broadcast in 1975 and is available on video.

Maurice Sendak contributed the opening segment to Simple Gifts, a Christmas collection of six animated shorts shown on PBS in 1977 and later released on VHS in 1993.

Maurice Sendak adapted his book Where the Wild Things Are for the stage in 1979.

Also in 1993, Maurice Sendak published a picture book, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy.

Later in the 1990s, Maurice Sendak approached playwright Tony Kushner to write a new English-language version of the Czech composer Hans Krasa's Holocaust opera Brundibar which, remarkably, had been performed by children in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Kushner wrote the text for Maurice Sendak's illustrated book of the same name, published in 2003.

In 2004, Maurice Sendak worked with the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra in Boston on their project Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale.

In 2011, Maurice Sendak adapted his Sesame Street short Bumble Ardy into a children's book, his first in over thirty years, and ultimately his last published work before his death.

Maurice Sendak mentioned in a September 2008 article in The New York Times that he was gay and had lived with his partner, psychoanalyst Eugene David Glynn, for 50 years before Glynn's death in May 2007.

Maurice Sendak drew inspiration and influences from a vast number of painters, musicians, and authors.

Not realizing that this was inappropriate for children, young Maurice Sendak was frequently sent home after retelling his father's "softcore Bible tales" at school.

Maurice Sendak developed other influences growing up beginning with Walt Disney's Fantasia and Mickey Mouse.

Mickey Mouse was created in the year Maurice Sendak was born, 1928, and Maurice Sendak described Mickey as being a source of joy and pleasure for him while growing up.

Maurice Sendak died at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut on May 8,2012, at age 83, due to complications from a stroke.

The 2012 season of Pacific Northwest Ballet's The Nutcracker, for which Maurice Sendak designed the set and costumes, was dedicated to his memory.

The major retrospective of over 130 pieces pulled from the museum's vast Maurice Sendak collection featured original artwork, rare sketches, never-before-seen working materials, and exclusive interview footage.

The Rosenbach filed an action in 2014, in state probate court in Connecticut, contending that the estate had kept many rare books that Maurice Sendak had pledged to the library in his will.

In 2018, the Maurice Sendak Foundation chose the University of Connecticut to house and steward the Collection.

Internationally, Maurice Sendak received the third biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration in 1970, recognizing his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Maurice Sendak received one of two inaugural Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards in 2003, recognizing his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense".

Maurice Sendak has two elementary schools named in his honor, one in North Hollywood, California, and PS 118 in Brooklyn, New York.

Maurice Sendak received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1984.